Chelsea boss blasts Alan Hansen over 'naive' comments

ANDRE Villas-Boas has hit back at Alan Hansen for branding his side 'naïve' at Old Trafford.

The Chelsea boss is still smarting from last Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United because he considers his side were unlucky to lose after having so much of the play and being undone by two 'offside goals' and a deflection.

But his mood has been made worse by the criticism of BBC pundit Hansen in a newspaper article, in which the former Liverpool defender criticised Chelsea's open attacking tactics.

Although he did not mention Hansen by name, it was clear he was referring to the TV pundit when he spoke to the media at Cobham today ahead of the weekend game against Swansea City.

“I am surprised that people criticised us for being naïve and stupid because what we did was we defended the essence of British football,” said a visibly irritated Villas-Boas.

“I find it strange that people related to football don't know more or less where to position themselves regarding what is best for football and what is best for fans, because fans are the most important part of our game.”

The Chelsea boss added: “It was an entertaining game for the world. It was a pity we didn't come away with the three points, but I think we were superior during the 90 minutes. I think we surprised everybody.

“Our collective performance was very very good. It's just a question of the result, which didn't go our way. We came out of Old Trafford with a very good display and I'm happy with that.

“It was a negative result for Chelsea but I have to say we were the best team. Not the most efficient team, I would have to agree, but we were the team that had the initiative in the game.”